»Stuff EP« by Izmar

Although sometimes overlooked, due to their release on Monotonik’s lesser-known sublabel Mono211, the two albums we’ve put out so far by Dutch ex-techno producer Izmar are, everyone seems to agree, pretty damn special, twinning Fila Brazillia style grooves with gorgeous melodies. So, when we got a whole extra CD of material from him (to be dealt with soon!), plus a follow-up of this lovely four-track EP, we grinned happily and got on with the harrowing job of actually releasing it, starting with the last first.

Thus, we get the initial beauty of ‘I Just Wanted You’, all intro wistfulness, before ‘Ohmygod’ cranks up the atmosphere and the beautiful keyboard playing into an amazing, perfectly blended whole. Next up, ‘One Eight’ is all loping strides and cymbal crashes, sounding natural and strident and right, before ‘Piano5’ ends things off with a more insistent groove based around repeated chords and a metallic sheen. And if you overlooked Izmar before, then really, there’s no excuse now, is there?